Citing enforcement related reports by the US FDA, Shah said the 2014 drug recalls from USA were 1,168 compared to only 56 from India. MUMBAI: The Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance, the leading lobby group of the domestic drugs industry, has described as "bold and befitting" the government's decision to defer bilateral trade talks with the European Union scheduled later this month to protest against the move to ban as many as 700 generic products tested by the Hyderabad-based clinical research organisation GVK Biosciences.

In a letter to commerce secretary Rita Teotia, IPA secretary general DG Shah said "some omissions and errors of some companies" must not be allowed to be used by any drug inspector or agency to generalise and make baseless allegations. "Your decision to challenge the French inspector's conclusions based on inspection of 25 drugs comes as a big support for the national industry," Shah wrote in a letter dated August 6.

Regulatory compliance has been a contentious issue for the Indian industry over the past few years. While nearly two dozen Indian manufacturing units have been banned as a result of tight scrutiny by the US Food and Drug Administration, the European Medicines Agency is moving to recommend a blanket ban on 700 generic products, a step many have termed extreme and harsh.

The IPA letter asserts that the industry is cognizant of the need for safety and quality of medicines exported from India. Citing enforcement related reports by the US FDA, Shah said the 2014 drug recalls from USA were 1,168 compared to only 56 from India, while Indian companies sell as many as 40% of all generic medicines in the US.

Only in India the healthcare financing is very small when compared to the financing by the other forces rather than the patient himself or herself paying out of pocket. Having 70-75% of the expenses as out-of-pocket, in my opinion, is not a right approach to managing healthcare in a country where the patients tend to sub-optimally purchase healthcare if he/she has to pay out-of-pocket.